American Legion Post #261 in Beaver Falls, located on Sixteenth Street, was established sometime in the 1920’s. The American Legion, a national veterans organization, was founded in 1919 in the wake of World War I. The local post was named in honor of the well-known U.S. Army Col. Joseph H. Thompson, a college football coach, attorney, and state senator who was awarded the Medal of Honor for gallant service in World War I France. After the war he returned to his law practice in Beaver Falls, where he later died of his lingering war wounds in 1928. (Oct 2014) Full Size

Joseph H. Thompson (1871-1928), hailing from County Down in Ireland, attended Geneva College and the University of Pittsburgh. He coached the much-heralded football team at Pitt in 1910, which went 9-0 and outscored opponents 282-0. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for actions on October 1, 1918, when he led several attacks against stubborn German positions in western France. (c1920)